EVOLUTION OF THE LAMP.
The old-time lamp was usually a hub lamp, carried on the front axle; head lamps were made, but had the drawback of being too high above the ground, and were also disagreeably odorous, the rider being seated so nearly over the steering. The hub lamp was large and cumbrous, sometimes having at the top a clip which opened to go over the axle, but more commonly being made to open in halves; the largest lamps—which were of the Lucas “King of the Road” pattern—were necessarily so made, in order to reduce their thickness so as to get them into the wheel. Even then it was sometimes a trick to get them in, requiring that a spoke or two be sprung to one side. To keep them steady and prevent their being struck by the spokes guides had to be run out against the sides of the great “G. M.” or steel hub. Sometimes there would be a catching, and the lamp would turn over instead of hanging. The wheel always cast its shadow, and with every jolt the lamp converted itself into a pendulum for the nonce and took on a trick of swinging, to the impairment of such illumination as it was ever capable of affording. Sperm or lard oil had to be used, kerosene being quite unmanageable.
English lamps held the market here for some years after the rear-driver came in, the patterns offered by American makers under other names being either made to order in England or copied from English models. The market is not yet bare of imported lamps, offered at low prices to clear them, and the persistence of burning oils as an article in the list of sundries is due to the declining existence of “Comets,” “Meteors,” “Cyclones” and others of English origin and fit only for heavy oils. The genuine American lamp, of course, burns kerosene, and is nickel-plated. The best-known patterns are the [Searchlight], “[M. & W.],” Tallyho, Neverout, [Bragger], Banner, Aladdin and [Twentieth Century].
Electricity and acetylene gas have recently come into use quite prominently for use in bicycle lamps, but of these mention will be made further on.